Community Centre, Toronto

A 22,000SF community centre and 15,000SF future Theatre, involving consensus building between multiple stakeholders: Community/Ratepayer Groups, Ward Councilors, and various City of Toronto staff departments. Programme includes: combination-crafts and children’s playrooms with an outdoor play yard, a multipurpose gymnasium (divisible), a multipurpose community room (divisible), an exercise room, a snack bar, an indoor square, administrative offices, washrooms with showers, and parking facilities. A new JJA-developed waveform roof, and a 3D Vierendel truss-system roof are featured. Activity Pavilions float on glass, giving sense of playing outdoors, maximum overlook and built-in security. (Winner of Best Institutional Masonry Building in Greater Toronto Area)

Beauty on a budget
…this is a building whose very obvious utility is raised to elegance through nothing more than the power of
architecture.
Inside and out, Ellesmere is a striking essay in architectural simplicity and clarity.

Christopher HumeArchitecture Critic, The Toronto Star

But the apparent simplicity of the parti belies the depth of the larger architectural aspirations. Throughout the project, Jacobs employed three main design strategies. The first was a metaphorical reference for the architectural expression; the second was lightness and harmony; and the third, a clear celebration of the structural systems.

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